Kennita Watson - Positions on Nov 2002 Initiatives

Prefacing note: My position on all bond measures is NO. The causes for which the
money will ostensibly be used may appear just, morally mandated, and/or essential;
of course they do -- how else will the government convince you that forcing everyone to
give money to them is the only way to get them done?

Never mind that millions of dollars are being wasted on projects that are questionable
at best. The government doesn't want you to think about taking money from those
projects for their new ones. And they lure you into the buy-now-pay-later trap, with
an insidious and diabolical twist: not only do you pay, your children, and maybe even
your grandchildren, will still be paying for the project many years hence.

Another point: once the bonds are passed, they try to make it appear that the
govenment has money lying around waiting to be spent. They don't. Government
has *no* money except what it extracts from the citizens in taxes.

Transportation. Allocation of Sales and Use Taxes Raised from Sale or Lease of Motor Vehicles. Initiative Statute.

No op.

52

Election Day Voter Registration

Note on Prop. 48: this bill would seat 10 superior court judges rather than 5 municipal and
5 superior. Unless they used to vote together, this introduces the possibility of
tie votes (5 to 5). This may or may not be a problem, not worth a NO over. I'm sure any
deadlock would make the news.

Note on Prop. 51: "Allocates money to 45 specific projects", eh? Sure as you're born,
each one will have cost overruns, and more tax dollars will be needed to cover them.
And why couldn't we on individual projects? If you or I have limited money, we have to
prioritize projects and leave the less important ones undone. Government just
borrows more and taxes you to pay the debt.

Note on Prop. 52: This will cost counties money (state promises to the contrary) and
will increase chances of mistakes and fraud (penalties notwithstanding). Also, it
treats "increased voter turnout" as a goal in and of itself. the founding fathers
emphasized the value of an informed electorate. An increase in last-minute
voters ignorant of the issues (they did not, of course, receive a voter information
booklet) does not seem like a positive step. Most likely is a flurry of voters coming in
clutching the slate card they got in the mail or on the street at the last minute.
My information on these initiatives came from
http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm
and http://www.calvoter.org/iwatch/2002/november.html.